1. AMERICAN FAILURES AND ENGLISH SUCCESSES -- The Crisis in American Education -- English Primary Education -- On Comparing English and American Schools -- 2. LOW-KEYED, GRADUAL CHANGE -- Fundamental Reform -- Agents of Change in England -- Comparable Agents of Change in the United States -- Social Conditions Facilitating or Blocking Change -- The Units of Change in the Two Countries -- 3. SIX ENGLISH CRITIQUES OF CURRENT REFORMS -- The Child-Centered Critique -- Sociological Critiques -- Philosophic Critiques -- The Learning Theory Critique -- Radical Critiques -- The Pessimistic Critique -- 4. THE ENGLISH HEAD TEACHER AND THE AMERICAN PRINCIPAL -- The Leader of Instruction -- Authority, Power, and Status -- Relationship to the School's Clients -- The Hierarchical Tradition -- Changes Affecting Head Teachers -- Left-Wing Teacher Criticism of the Headship -- 5. THE CLASS TEACHER -- Freedom for the Class Teacher -- Constraints on the Class Teacher -- The Status and Career Prospects of the Class Teacher -- The Heavy Demands of the New Methods -- Relationships with Children -- Role Conflict -- Some Differences Between English and American Teachers -- 6. NURSERY SCHOOLS -- Nursery Education in England -- The Influence of Susan Isaacs -- Nursery Education in the United States -- 7. INFANT SCHOOLS -- Characteristics of English Infant Schools -- Infant School Problems -- 8. JUNIOR SCHOOLS -- History of Junior Schools -- Characteristics of English Junior Schools -- Junior School Problems -- 9. THE PREPARATION OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS -- A Single-Purpose Institution -- Vocational Emphasis -- The Small, Intimate Community -- Tutorial Teaching -- Practice Teaching Provisions -- The Life of a College Student -- Student Criticism -- The Hard Work of the Staff -- 10. HIGH STANDARDS -- Six Meanings of the Term -- Are Standards Declining? -- Standards in the United States -- The High Expectations That Accompany Informal Methods -- Can American Schools Become Free? -- 11. CLASS BIAS: ENGLAND'S NUMBER ONE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM -- Education on the Cheap -- Discrimination Against the Majority -- Secondary School Divisions -- The Failure of the 1944 Education Act -- Blindness to the Magnitude of the Problem -- Class Segregation -- The Anxiety of Middle-Class Parents -- Schools for the Working Class -- 12. WHAT CAN AMERICANS LEARN FROM ENGLISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS? -- One Hundred Potentially Transferable Features -- A Critique of the Concept of Open Education -- Essential Features of English Primary Education.